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Manual tissue extraction from potato tubers for molecular pathogen detection is highly laborious. This study presents a machine-vision-guided, dual-arm coordinated inline robotic system integrating tuber grasping and tissue sampling mechanisms. Tubers are transported on a conveyor that halts when a YOLOv11-based vision system detects a tuber within the workspace of a one-prismatic-degree-of-freedom (P-DoF) robotic arm. This arm, equipped with a gripping end-effector, secures and positions the tuber for sampling. The second arm, a 3-P-DoF Cartesian manipulator with a biopsy punch-based end-effector, then performs tissue extraction guided by a YOLOv10-based vision system that identifies the sampling sites on the tuber such as eyes or stolon scars. The sampling involves four stages: insertion of the punch into the tuber, punch rotation for tissue detachment, biopsy punch retraction, and deposition of the tissue core onto a collection site. The system achieved an average positional error of 1.84 mm along the tuber surface and a depth deviation of 1.79 mm from a 7.00 mm target. The success rate for core extraction and deposition was 81.5%, with an average sampling cycle of 10.4 seconds. The total cost of the system components was under $1,900, demonstrating the system's potential as a cost-effective alternative to labor-intensive manual tissue sampling. Future work will focus on optimizing for multi-site sampling from a single tuber and validation in commercial settings.

S automation advances, robots are increasingly utilized for complex tasks, reducing manual labor in hazardous environments while improving efficiency, precision, and cost-effectiveness [1]. However, real-world robotic applications require seamless interaction with deformable objects, which presents significant challenges due to material flexibility and unpredictable shape changes [2]. Unlike rigid object manipulation, deformable object manipulation (DOM) requires real-time adaptive control to compensate for continuous state variations and external forces. Traditional physics-based control models, such as mass-spring systems and finite element methods [3], [4], [5], attempt to model deformable object behavior but often fall short in real-world applications due to the sensitvity of control parameters and the difficulty of modeling complex contact dynamics. To address these limitations, recent research has shifted toward machine learning and data-driven approaches, where robots learn from sensor feedback or demonstrations rather than relying on hard-coded models [6]. Predictive learning models [7], [8], [9] have proven effective for latent space learning and object behavior forecasting, improving adaptability across applications such as fabric repositioning [10], crop harvesting [11], [12], medical robotics [13], and deformable linear object manipulation [14], [15]. While significant progress has been made in DOM, little research has focused on deformable tool manipulation (DTM), which introduces additional complexities such as bending dynamics, force regulation, and stability issues.

Modeling spatial heterogeneity in the data generation process is essential for understanding and predicting geographical phenomena. Despite their prevalence in geospatial tasks, neural network models usually assume spatial stationarity, which could limit their performance in the presence of spatial process heterogeneity. By allowing model parameters to vary over space, several approaches have been proposed to incorporate spatial heterogeneity into neural networks. However, current geographically weighting approaches are ineffective on graph neural networks, yielding no significant improvement in prediction accuracy. We assume the crux lies in the over-fitting risk brought by a large number of local parameters. Accordingly, we propose to model spatial process heterogeneity at the regional level rather than at the individual level, which largely reduces the number of spatially varying parameters. We further develop a heuristic optimization procedure to learn the region partition adaptively in the process of model training. Our proposed spatial-heterogeneity-aware graph convolutional network, named RegionGCN, is applied to the spatial prediction of county-level vote share in the 2016 US presidential election based on socioeconomic attributes. Results show that RegionGCN achieves significant improvement over the basic and geographically weighted GCNs. We also offer an exploratory analysis tool for the spatial variation of non-linear relationships through ensemble learning of regional partitions from RegionGCN. Our work contributes to the practice of Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI) in tackling spatial heterogeneity.

Residential rooftop solar adoption is considered crucial for reducing carbon emissions. The lack of photovoltaic (PV) data at a finer resolution (e.g., household, hourly levels) poses a significant roadblock to informed decision-making. We discuss a novel methodology to generate a highly granular, residential-scale realistic dataset for rooftop solar adoption across the contiguous United States. The data-driven methodology consists of: (i) integrated machine learning models to identify PV adopters, (ii) methods to augment the data using explainable AI techniques to glean insights about key features and their interactions, and (iii) methods to generate household-level hourly solar energy output using an analytical model. The resulting synthetic datasets are validated using real-world data and can serve as a digital twin for modeling downstream tasks. Finally, a policy-based case study utilizing the digital twin for Virginia demonstrated increased rooftop solar adoption with the 30\% Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit, especially in Low-to-Moderate-Income communities.

In addition to its public health crisis, COVID-19 pandemic has led to the shutdown and closure of workplaces with an estimated total cost of more than $16 trillion. Given the long hours an average person spends in buildings and indoor environments, this research article proposes data-driven control strategies to design optimal indoor airflow to minimize the exposure of occupants to viral pathogens in built environments. A general control framework is put forward for designing an optimal velocity field and proximal policy optimization, a reinforcement learning algorithm is employed to solve the control problem in a data-driven fashion. The same framework is used for optimal placement of disinfectants to neutralize the viral pathogens as an alternative to the airflow design when the latter is practically infeasible or hard to implement. We show, via simulation experiments, that the control agent learns the optimal policy in both scenarios within a reasonable time. The proposed data-driven control framework in this study will have significant societal and economic benefits by setting the foundation for an improved methodology in designing case-specific infection control guidelines that can be realized by affordable ventilation devices and disinfectants.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has changed our lives and still poses a challenge to science. Numerous studies have contributed to a better understanding of the pandemic. In particular, inhalation of aerosolised pathogens has been identified as essential for transmission. This information is crucial to slow the spread, but the individual likelihood of becoming infected in everyday situations remains uncertain. Mathematical models help estimate such risks. In this study, we propose how to model airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 at a local scale. In this regard, we combine microscopic crowd simulation with a new model for disease transmission. Inspired by compartmental models, we describe agents' health status as susceptible, exposed, infectious or recovered. Infectious agents exhale pathogens bound to persistent aerosols, whereas susceptible agents absorb pathogens when moving through an aerosol cloud left by the infectious agent. The transmission depends on the pathogen load of the aerosol cloud, which changes over time. We propose a 'high risk' benchmark scenario to distinguish critical from non-critical situations. Simulating indoor situations show that the new model is suitable to evaluate the risk of exposure qualitatively and, thus, enables scientists or even decision-makers to better assess the spread of COVID-19 and similar diseases.

He said machine learning, part of artificial intelligence, will help develop more site-specific forecasting.